Runny Peach Pies
by OneshotPrincess
Summary: "Jackson!" she spoke without thinking. "You're Jeopardy Jackson's dad?" Percy blinked in surprise. "That's what you call her?"/ Or the one in which Percy Jackson is a single dad, Annabeth Chase is his daughter's kindergarten teacher and they are both very obviously crushing on each other.


**A/N:** Written as a gift for the wonderful maydayparade8123 who is an amazing writer. Sorry for being so late!

* * *

" _Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie- not perfect but who's complaining?"_

 _-Roger Brault_

* * *

"I hate her."

Percy sighed and put his spoonful of ice cream down. "Olivia," he chastised sternly, "hate is a strong word. We do not hate people, okay?"

"I do," she glared at her cup viciously. "I hate her. She's all wrong!"

"She's just new," he argued. "I'm sure she'll be a wonderful teacher. All you have to do is give her a chance."

"No!"

Percy groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was going to be a hard one, he just knew it.

"Wait, who are we talking about here?" Jason sidled into the seat beside him, finally off his shift at Khione's ice-cream parlour.

"Her new homeroom teacher," Leo informed with a grin. "Apparently she looks like a booger."

"She does not look like a booger!" Percy said sharply.

"Does too!" Olivia kicked the leg of her chair. "Boogers and sunny side up eggs." This wouldn't be that bad of an insult if Percy didn't know that his daughter hated sunny-side up eggs with the burning passion of a thousand suns. Scrambled or bust.

At six years old Olivia Dare-Jackson's whole world had just been turned upside down because her favourite person in the whole wide world, other than Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Jason and Uncle Leo and Uncle Nico of course, Ms Beauregard had just turned into Mrs Beckendorf. Of course, it had been fun when Ms Beauregard had announced her engagement to the class and it had been fun designing the invitation cards (Silena, bless her soul, had _actually_ used those stick-figure-crayon-cards to invite all the guests; Percy's one had come with dried green paste on the back). It had been incredible attending the wedding. Silena's mother had spared no expense and along with their numerous family members, almost the entire elementary school had been invited as well. When the new Mrs Beckendorf had thrown the bouquet over her shoulder and Percy had caught it, presenting it to Olivia, his daughter had gushed about it for an entire week.

What had been less fun was the realization that Mrs Beckendorf had actually been serious about moving to Greece with her husband, thus leaving her kindergarten class behind. And then the five stages of grief appeared. Denial ("She won't really leave, Daddy! She's just messing with us!"), Anger ("It's like she doesn' care 'bout us at all!"), Bargaining ("I promise I'll be good, I'll never be on the naughty list, not even once. You'll see") Depression ("I don't feel like having blue cupcakes today, Daddy…") and Acceptance…they were having a little trouble with acceptance.

It wasn't just the fact that Silena was moving away or that there was a new teacher replacing her that was bothering Olivia, Percy knew. It was the fact that one of the few positive female figures in her life was leaving her behind in the USA and moving across the Atlantic. It hit home hard. So hard, in fact, that Olivia had even refused to talk to Rachel on their weekly video call. Percy had had to hastily explain the situation to a very hurt artist. No doubt she'd draw up some angst-y abstract art piece about the womb and its fruits later on.

Today was the first day that the new teacher had arrived at class and already Olivia had found over a hundred things wrong with her, starting with the fact that she didn't know everyone's names to the fact that her hair was the wrong shade of yellow. "Ugly-old-stayed-too-long-in-the-fridge-butter-yellow," she had complained. "Sunny-side-up-eggs-yellow. Not happy-sunshine-y yellow. Like Uncle Jason's. That's the best yellow. The _only_ yellow."

Percy almost regretted the rather creative names Rachel had taught her to describe different shades of colours. Almost. Since she had shown no signs of stopping her ranting after coming home, Percy had bundled her up and taken her to the mall to meet up with Jason and Leo at Khione's. He had been hoping that an excursion would take her mind off things. He had been wrong.

"I don't think it's possible for people to look like boogers, Liv," Percy waved his spoon at his petulant daughter.

"Is too," she insisted earnestly. "Jaime Rodriguez totally looks like a booger and you know it!"

Percy hesitated. "Okay, maybe some people _can_ look a _little_ like a booger," he relented, considering the matter. Olivia beamed up at him; looking brighter than the clearest day at his admission and Percy couldn't help but let a wide grin grace his face as well while Leo snickered hysterically beside her. Jason poked him sharply in the ribs with a plastic fork and glared.

"You're supposed to be setting an example!" he hissed sharply.

"Yes dear," Percy grumbled, rubbing the sore spot. Everyone knew who the _real_ mother in their little family was. "Alright Liv," Percy adopted that stern tone once more, keeping one eye trained on Jason; who was right of course. Olivia was the kind of girl who picked things up quickly once she saw other people doing it. Part of the reason for her general babbly-ness was the fact that the first few years of her life, she had practically been raised by a bunch of really, really babbly college kids. Namely Percy, Jason, Leo and Rachel with Grover dropping by on occasion.

"Some people look like ice-cream sprinkles and floof candy and some people look like boogers," Percy started to explain, adopting his best 'I am not scolding you but you need to listen to me' tone. "When they look like sprinkles, you can say so. When they look like boogers, it's not nice to say so."

"But it's true!"

"It's still not nice to say so," he told her. "If you don't have anything nice to say…"

"Don't say anything at all," Olivia sulkily recited.

"Exactly," Percy smiled at her encouragingly. "Remember that time Jaime pushed you off the swing set and you got hurt? Words can hurt you like that too so we should never, ever…"

"Call people mean names," Olivia finished glumly.

Percy leaned back against his chair in satisfaction, confident that he'd finally gotten through to her. The satisfaction lasted all of five seconds.

"Annabeth Chase," Olivia declared proudly as soon as it had seemed that she would let it go. "I'm gonna 'chase' you away!"

"Olivia!" Percy groaned, ignoring Leo's strange gasp. "What did I just tell you?"

"Not to call people names," Olivia grinned cheekily. "And I didn'!"

Oh. Percy blinked in surprise. Jason let out a bark of laughter. "Got to admit, she's got you there," he chortled.

"You sassy little monster," Percy shook his head exasperatedly, unsure of whether to feign anger (he could never really be angry at her, he's tried countless times) or let his amusement show through. All the while his spawn gave him the most audacious smirk on the face of the planet and merrily kicked her legs away. She poked a spoonful of pistachio ice cream into her mouth, green eyes blinking in the 'I have no idea why you're mad' expression. "Did you just loophole me? You did, didn't you? And you," Percy pointed an accusing finger at the still chuckling Jason. "You're supposed to be setting an example!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Jason pressed his palm against his mouth but the mirth still showed in his eyes.

"Forget that!" Leo jabbered out excitedly, waving his hands wildly and regaining everyone's attention. "Do you two not realize what just happened?"

Percy and Jason exchanged a look. "Umm, no?" Jason ventured.

"Do _you_ realize what just happened?" Leo turned to Olivia.

"Nu-uh," she mumbled through a mouthful of ice cream.

Leo groaned. "Our baby," he spoke slowly, punctuating each word for emphasis. "Just. Made. Her First. Pun! This calls for a celebration!"

Jason snorted while Percy rolled his eyes. "Excuse me," he asked, with mock offence. "But 'our' baby?"

"Don't toy with my emotions Jackson," Leo snaked his arms around the giggling girl. "I claim at least 15% of this baby. At least 15% is completely Leo Valdez. Isn't that right Liv?" he wriggled his fingers against her sides.

"Uncle Leo!" Olivia shrieked. "Stop it, it tickles! An' I'm not a baby!"

"15% of you is!" Leo insisted with a grin, mercilessly continuing his assault.

"Grace!" a voice called out in a far nastier shriek. Jason winced and Leo immediately retracted his fingers and sobered up, Percy put down his spoon and shoved his cup away. Even Olivia straightened up and stayed still. The other customers, too, seemed to hush up. Nothing could kill the party mood quite like Khione Winters. Percy could hear the tell-tale click-click of her high heels against the linoleum as she approached their table.

"Aww shi-shiminies," Leo muttered. "I thought she left."

"You're disturbing the other customers," she called out icily as soon as she reached them, one hand arched on her hip, perfectly manicured fingers tapping away. Funny, Percy thought. No one seemed to be complaining till you came along. "If you're off your shift, then get lost-"

"We were just leaving anyway," Percy interrupted her smoothly. Khione seemed startled at the disruption, pursing her lips. "Come on, Liv." He got up and stretched out a hand. Olivia hurriedly jumped down from her seat and grabbed on, burying herself behind him. Leo followed suit, so did Jason. Khione narrowed her eyes at him but said nothing as they made their way to the door.

Soon as they were out, Leo heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Man, what a bi-"

Percy elbowed him sharply in the gut and Leo coughed. "Beenie. What a _meanie_ -bo-beenie. Hey Superman, mind if we pick out another ice cream parlour or something next time. Your boss gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"She's sca-ry," Olivia agreed in a whisper, keeping her eyes trained on the ground. Yeah, definitely a different place next time, Percy thought angrily as he leaned down to pull her up against his chest so that her chin rested on his shoulder.

"Not that scary," Percy assured her in a soft voice.

"Not _that_ scary," Olivia agreed but Percy could tell that it was half-hearted from the way her arms wrapped around his neck. Irritation flashed within him, along with a strong desire to turn Khione Winters into one of her over-priced smoothies. A blue one. No one scared Olivia and got away with it.

"What did you do to her anyway? She's, like, extra meanie to you," Leo asked Jason.

"Honestly, I have no clue," he admitted, although he did seem a little uncomfortable to Percy. "I guess she just… _likes_ being a meanie-bo-beenie."

Olivia giggled. "I like that word," she announced. "Can we go to the ball pit now?"

One had to marvel at the attention span of his six-year-old. A grudge against an innocent school teacher, _that_ could last for hours. Khione Winters? Forgotten in minutes. Not that Percy wasn't glad, of course. As far as he was concerned, Olivia should have just a few emotions. Happy and its variations thereof.

"It's a little late for that isn't it?" Percy set her down again but she still latched onto his pinkie.

"But I made a pun!" Olivia asserted loudly before biting her lip. "What's a pun?" she asked sheepishly.

"Just you wait, princess," Leo grinned exuberantly. "When Uncle Leo's done with you you're going to be a 'Pungeon' Master! But yeah, first we gotta celebrate this wonderful, joyous occasion. To the ball pit! First one there gets to dive-bomb!" With that Leo dashed off to make his way to the escalators.

Olivia cackled loudly and let go of Percy's hand to follow except Percy wouldn't let her. "Oh no, you don't," Percy chastised as he grabbed her hand again. "You're not getting away from me that easily. Absolutely no dive-bombing for you. I mean, do you even know what that is?" Percy raised his eyebrows.

"No, but it _sounds_ fun!" his daughter whined and made a face at him. "And you're boring!"

"I'm not boring," he snickered. Oh this opportunity was just too golden. "I'm Dad."

"That was a horrible, horrible joke," Jason commented amusedly. "Hear that? Out there? Those are the crickets chirping. They're embarrassed for you."

"That was _beautiful_ joke," Percy replied, feigning hurt. "And you'll get it when you're a dad. Now come on Grace. To the ball pit."

After forty-five minutes of picking out only the yellow balls and chucking them at Uncle Leo while he pretended to cower before her might, Olivia was exhausted enough to be drooping off to sleep right in his arms. Percy congratulated himself on a mission well accomplished, thanked Leo and Jason for their time and then scooped up his snoozing daughter to go home. By the time he reached their little two-bedroom apartment, she was snoring softly.

Percy set her down on her bed with the SpongeBob SquarePants covers and took a moment, as he always did each day, to marvel at her. Brushing the black bangs across her forehead, he smiled down at her, wondering how he ever got lucky enough to have this beautiful person enter his life.

He remembered once indulging his mom in one of her dreamy moods and watching The Sound of Music with her and Paul. When the song between Maria and Von Trap began, he remembered his mother and Paul sneaking sappy glances at each other. Stuck in between them, Percy had wanted to crawl into the couch and die. Afterwards they had made it a sort of tradition to watch on the same day each year much to their son's chagrin. He couldn't have refused though. Traditions in the Blowfis-Jackson household were sacred and Sally Jackson's word was law.

Percy hummed the song absent-mindedly. Sixteen-year-old Percy had cringed at what he perceived as a really cheesy song. Twenty-six-year old Percy couldn't help but identify with one of the lines in particular. Somewhere along the line, he'd done something to deserve Olivia and he thanked his lucky stars every day for it.

"Hey Liv," he whispered softly. "Wake up, come on." She shifted a little and mumbled something incoherently.

"Up you get," he tried again, poking her gut. "You need to brush your teeth, and then get into your pyjamas, and then you can go to bed."

Olivia groaned and curled into a tighter ball. But she was awake now, Percy knew from the way her eyes scrunched up tight and the corner of her lip twitched. In the same way parents had these little textbook ideas about how to get your kids to listen to you, kids had these little textbook ideas about how to get your parents to do what you wanted. One of them was to cutely pretend to be asleep so that they got bowled over by your adorableness and let you stay in bed instead of dragging you off to brush your teeth. And just as repeatedly reading a textbook made it lose its charm pretty quickly, once you got used to it, the tricks kids pulled got easy to see through as well.

Percy grinned. A little persuasion was what she needed.

"Olivia," he warned teasingly. "You better get up right now or else the tickle monster will get you again!"

His daughter's eyes flew open in horror and she kicked up a storm in desperation to get away from the wiggling fingers for the second time that night.

"Too late!" he declared, waving his hands.

"Don't!" Olivia wailed in despair. "Don't, don't, don't, I'll brush, I'll brush!"

"That's my girl," Percy ceased his assault and offered a hand to pull her up.

"You're mean," she grumbled, groggily rubbing her eyes.

Percy resisted the urge to correct her. Two of the same lame joke in the same day was probably two too many, even for his standards. But really, did everyone around him have to give him so many openings?

"I have to be mean," he told her instead. "Who else would protect your teeth from getting eaten up by the gummy worms? Do you need any help?" he asked her as she hopped down from the bed to make her way to the bathroom.

"I'm six, Daddy," she sniffed haughtily.

"Oh, practically an adult."

True to her word, Olivia did manage to brush her teeth by herself (even if she did waste a heinous amount of water splashing) but pyjamas were a little trickier and after watching her flail around stuck in her shirt for a good five minutes, Percy finally decided to take action, removing the shirt and helping her put it on the right side up. Clearly it was still too early for him to get Empty Nest's Syndrome.

The real trouble came after Percy had tucked her in, kissed her forehead and bid her goodnight. Just as he turned off the lights and flipped on the nightlight, her voice floated out.

"Daddy? I wanna know something."

Olivia never asked questions; she always wanted to know things. And most of her more introspective queries came after the lights were off. In the dim green glow of her room, Percy made his way towards her bed. Settling down beside her, he asked, "What do want to know?"

She peered at him through her bangs. "Is it better over there? Like the across-the-ocean-place?"

"Europe?"

"Yeah there," she nodded. "Is it nicer than here? Is that why they left?"

Percy sighed. He'd had this conversation once with her before, when Rachel had first left for Europe to start her career. Apparently though, they needed to have it again.

"Listen Liv," Percy brushed her hair out of her eyes. "People have different dreams that they just have to follow, okay? And their dreams might make them want to go to different places. Like Mommy wanted to be a painter in Paris since she was little-er than you," Percy tapped her nose. "So she moved to Paris and became a painter, she followed her dream. That doesn't mean that you're being left behind or that they don't love you."

"Mommy loves me I know," She mumbled, "but what 'bout Ms Beauregard?"

"She loves you too."

"Will she send me postcards and talk to me on the computer too?"

"Probably not," Percy admitted. "She loves you in a different way."

"What way?"

Pudding on a cracker! Why do kids ask so many questions? Did he use to ask so many questions? He hadn't given his mom enough presents if he had.

"In a different, different way," Percy offered a non-answer to avoid further complications. "Everyone loves you in a different way. It's just how it is. You'll get it when you're older." Percy hated playing that card but really, what else was there to do? He wasn't avoiding the question, not really. It actually was true. She would understand why people moved, how families worked when she was older.

"Any more questions?" Percy asked.

"I don't get it," Olivia mumbled in answer. But that was okay because within a few seconds, her breathing evened out and soon enough she was snoring.

Percy pressed one last kiss to her forehead and made his way, wondering if he could get Rachel to answer this question next time. He was pretty sure that there was going to be a next time.

* * *

"I think I'm spoiling her," Percy spoke into his cell phone.

"Uh-huh," was the intelligent reply from the other side.

"I mean," Percy held the phone between his shoulder and ear while simultaneously whisking batter in frustration. "That other day, she wanted a pet. For a whole week she's been pestering me about it. And I caved. I killed four goldfish when I was a teenager, I don't know what I'm thinking. _Today_ , she woke up and wanted chocolate cupcakes."

"Okay."

"And guess what I'm doing now?" Percy set the bowl down and grabbed the phone before it could slip and fall. "I'm up to my elbows in batter, baking her cupcakes."

"Yup."

"And cupcakes aren't a _bad_ thing," he continued. "But they're a _once a month_ thing and we've already had cupcakes this month but I'm still baking her more. Like, I feel like I'm not being firm enough when I say no and she's starting to realize it. The main problem is- Nico are you listening to me?"

"Not at all," his cousin replied in a droll voice.

"Thanks for that," Percy remarked dryly. "Really, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"What do you want me to say?" Percy could hear Nico's exasperation. "I'm a college kid who didn't knock someone up and thus have zero experience with this parenting shit. Don't you have a co-parent you could discuss this with instead of bothering me first thing in the morning?"

"First of all, that was rude and unnecessary." He ignored Nico's snort on the other end.

"Secondly, my 'co-parent' lives in another time zone and has a really erratic sleep schedule, I needed to talk to someone now," Percy fought off a grin but the amusement still seeped into his voice as he spoke the next sentence. "And Nico? It's 11:30."

"Shit! I had a class at eight!" There was a loud crash and Nico's swearing continued.

"Kids these days," he clucked his tongue disapprovingly. "When I was your age, I graduated from college while raising a baby and dealing with my girlfriend's dysfunctional family problems and-"

"Shut it Perce," Nico snapped. "You're really not the ideal people should aspire to be."

"That hurts Nico," he exaggerated a sob. "You wounded me. Hit me right in my heart-"

" _Good-bye_ ," the venomous voice hissed before the beep indicated that his cousin had hung up.

Percy set his phone down on the counter. Well that had certainly cheered him up. Unfortunately his problem remained unsolved. He was completely incapable of being angry at Olivia or maintaining stern attitude for very long. It didn't help that most of the other figures in her life were the 'fun aunts and uncles' variety who took her out to places, praised her, bought her ice-cream…He might not be the kind of dad who bought his kid whatever he wanted whenever they wanted it but this was still a form of spoiling her, he knew. And he needed to fix this before it got out of hand.

He was just considering calling his mom to ask her for advice (if anybody knew how to be a good parent, Sally Jackson did) when his phone rang up, the number on the screen being his daughter's school. Percy blinked in surprise before picking up. All at once a million different worries sprang up in his mind: was she hurt, did she get sick, did she get into fight-

"Hello?" he asked with trepidation.

"Mr Jackson?" The cool voice of the secretary spoke from the other end.

"Yes?"

"Your daughter has been involved in a scene involving one of our new teachers. We were wondering if you could come in to discuss it."

" _Of course_ she has," Percy muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and getting flour all over it.

"Excuse me?"

"Uh, I mean yes. Yeah I'll be right there," Percy amended hastily before hanging up.

Just his luck. The day he came to the realization that he couldn't let her get away with everything was the very day when he had to face something he couldn't let her get away with. Oh the fates were cruel. The phone call to his mother would just have to wait he supposed.

Half-an-hour later, when he was sitting in the principal's office with a dejected Olivia beside him, Percy knew one thing for certain. When the principal's name was Mrs Invidia _Nemesis_ , parent-teacher meetings were probably never going to go smoothly.

"Let me get this straight, she dumped a can of paint on her teacher's head? How'd she even reach that high?"

"She bent down," Olivia offered glumly. "An' it wasn' paint. It was _paint water_. You put your brush in to clean it."

"Because that makes it _so_ much better," Percy groaned.

"Mr Jackson," Mrs Nemesis (God how had he not remembered that the woman in charge of his daughter's school was named _Nemesis_?) interjected in a clipped tone. "I hope you realize that this is a serious transgression. I have never seen such a blatant form of disrespect-"

"Seriously? Never? How long have been doing this job anyway?" The words were out before Percy could stop himself and he couldn't help but wince a little at the way Mrs Nemesis was glaring at him. And of course this was not the example he wanted to be setting.

"From a kindergartener," she finished softly in a voice that sounded remarkably like the hiss of a snake. "The most disrespectful thing I have seen a kindergartener do yet. And worse still she refuses to tell us exactly why she did it."

"Liv?" Percy kept his voice distant. "Why did you do that to Ms Chase?"

Olivia didn't answer his question. Instead she pressed her lips into a firm line and kept staring at the ground. Percy sighed and turned back Mrs Nemesis.

"I'm sorry about this," Percy told her earnestly. "She's just- Olivia's been having a hard time adjusting after Ms Beauregard left. That's why she's acting up like this."

"Change can sometimes be hard to accept," Mrs Nemesis nodded in acquiescence but her eyes were devoid of sympathy, "but that does not give us the right to break the rules or misbehave."

"Of course not," Percy hastily agreed. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"Please see to it that it does not," she answered. "No bad deed should ever go unpunished," she gave him a pointed look and Percy swallowed hard.

"Right. Shouldn't Ms Chase be here? I'm sure Olivia would like to apologize," he gave her a pointed glare (or as close as he could manage anyway).

"She left the school premises earlier. She is still new and as, you can imagine, very distressed by this."

"Sorry about that…again."

"You may leave now," he could've sworn she'd just rolled her eyes at him.

Once outside, Olivia grabbed hold of his hand like she always did. However, she didn't meet his eyes. That at least seemed to imply that she had understood that she'd done something wrong. Well that was a start.

"Olivia," he asked quietly once again as they started walking, "why did you do that to Miss Chase?"

At first it seemed like she wouldn't answer once more. But to Percy's immense relief she spoke after a long pause. "Because she's all wrong," she pouted stubbornly.

Percy groaned softly. "I thought we went over this? You can't just do mean things like that to people for no reason! And even if you do have a good reason, it's still better not to do mean things. Mean things are bad, period."

"But you don' know what she did!" she protested.

"Well fine, tell me."

Olivia's lower lip trembled. "She does a lotta things! Like that day, she said that The Little Mermaid sucked! And then, she told me that trees can't be purple! And then when we were writing letters about our favourite day she told me that 'floof' wasn't a word and I couldn't use it! It's totally a word!" She let go of his hand and folded her arms stubbornly.

"She said that The Little Mermaid sucked?' Percy asked in disbelief. Alright that was definitely not the way a teacher should be talking to her kindergarteners. "That's not cool," but before she could get her hopes up too much, he added, "but what you did was definitely not cool either. And Olivia…floof really isn't a word."

"Is too!" she looked half scandalised and half betrayed, and Percy just couldn't hide his wince.

"It actually isn't," Percy tried to keep his voice gentle while at the same time wondering exactly how he had gotten himself into this mess. Oh right, making up his own words during bedtime stories. Nice. "I mean, it might mean something to you and me. I know it means that poofy thing cotton candy and clouds are. But it doesn't mean that to other people."

"Why not?"

"Because it's one of our words. Just for us," he winked at her. "You know and I know and anybody we tell will know. But we can't just go telling everyone our words okay? It has to mean something special."

"…Okay," Olivia agreed with a frown.

"Good. Now you do know that you did something wrong right? And don't you lie to me missy, I can see it all over your face."

"…She did look a little sad," Olivia admitted and Percy was relieved to see the conflict in her eyes. "Very sad."

"It's bad to make people feel sad," he reminded her gently. "And you're forgetting something very important: she's probably finding it very hard to fit in here. Do you remember when you first went to school?"

"Not really," she admitted.

"Well, I do. You were pretty scared. You wouldn't let go of my hand. Ms Chase is probably very scared too. It's a new school for her, she's never been here before and I'm sure that she's trying her best to make friends. You're not making it very easy for her."

"…I'm sorry," she murmured miserably. "She just makes me so mad-"

"It's okay," he quickly cut her off. "On Monday, you'll go and apologize to her alright? And you'll never do something like this again, no matter how upset you get."

"Fine."

"Good. Now I have some unfinished cupcakes at home," he grinned as her eyes lit up. "We're going to go back home, we're gonna bake those cupcakes and then we're gonna take them to the homeless shelter Aunt Juniper works at." He ignored her indignant 'what!'

"Cupcakes are for kids who don't throw paint water at their teachers. Apologize to her tomorrow and maybe then we'll see if we can get you some jellybeans."

* * *

"'You only think about studies, Annabeth!'" Annabeth grumbled over the buzz of the hairdryer. "'Why don't you get a little practical experience, build on your social skills Annabeth? Be a tutor, teaching's fun!' Yeah thanks a lot Mom."

There was the sound of the hairdryer being turned off, the hum dulling down into nothing.

"So now you're being reduced to blaming your Mom for some off-hand thing she said when you were a teenager. Really, Annabeth?" Piper shook her head but there was a relaxed smile on her face. She put down the hairdryer and set about attacking Annabeth's curls with a comb.

"Yes," she admitted. "I need my moment of childishness, Piper, so sue me!" she almost shrieked as Piper yanked particularly harshly. "What was I thinking?"

"You were thinking that teaching is something you realized you loved doing and it probably wouldn't be bad to spend the rest of your life doing something you thoroughly enjoyed," Piper answered easily. Annabeth was beginning to despise this calm, cheery mood of hers.

"Well it's not fun for me anymore," Annabeth grumbled before reconsidering. "It's not that bad actually. It's just…"

"Jeopardy Jackson?" Piper asked with a sympathetic look.

It was frustrating honestly. Annabeth had never been keen on teaching until she had started tutoring some students during her high school years. Turns out she had enjoyed it immensely then. Not because, as her friends had teased, she loved being smarter than other people (although there was a little bit of truth in that) but because there was some sort of a satisfaction in seeing students get something right and knowing that _she_ was the one that made it happen. It was very, very gratifying and it made Annabeth feel as though she was actually accomplishing something.

Annabeth knew what an important part a teacher played in children's lives. God knows where she would be now if her teachers hadn't been so considerate about her dyslexia. She hadn't been so lucky with her high-school teachers who had simply refused to acknowledge that learning disorders could exist. Jerks.

And when that new found interest in teaching had led her to spending more time with her younger brothers and getting closer to them, watching their faces light up as they grasped new concepts, seeing their pencils fly across the page in concentration…well Annabeth had been sold.

She had started volunteering at a day-care centre, learning all she could about working with young children. And, after graduating from college, she had taken up a job in rural south India, working with a NGO that promoted education for over a year. It had been an amazing experience. Her first job after coming back home? Not so much.

Maybe it was the culture shock after working with the Indian children. They had all been so eager to learn, with their toothy grins and stubby pencils. Each and every one of them had believed that they were lucky to be in that three classroom school with no air-conditioning and just one toilet (it had been a year of many difficulties). Annabeth had felt a kindred spirit with them. Most importantly, they treated their teachers like saints.

Annabeth had forgotten how different thing were here in the States. Her first week back had been a bit of a reality check, really. She had adjusted quickly enough, though and eventually fell back into place. Everything was going fine mostly...except for Olivia Dare-Jackson. The girl was enough to make Annabeth want to crawl back to India with her tail tucked between her legs. Because, honestly, what kind of a teacher was she if she couldn't even deal with _one_ problem child?

"Yeah, her," Annabeth sighed, trying not to sound too disheartened. "I don't know what I did wrong! She keeps shooting me these glares in the middle of class; she keeps bumping into me, making me drop my coffee. And I don't know, I didn't want to say anything because I figured she'll warm up to me soon enough. Except-"

"Today, she dropped paint all over your head."

"Yeah, that. So I took her to the principal's office. I mean enough is enough, right? " But despite that, Annabeth couldn't quite bring herself to resent Olivia (not that teachers were supposed to resent children in the first place). She was far too intriguing for that. Sometimes, Annabeth found herself eavesdropping on her conversations with the other kids, partly to glean whether she had begun liking Annabeth or not and partly because the things the kid had to say were just so _interesting_.

After a pause, Annabeth continued thoughtfully. "General malice for me aside, the kid's actually pretty smart. In the head of the kindergartener clique, queen of the playground kind of way. You should see the way the other kids listen to her! That other day I heard her telling Jimmy that it's stupid to be scared of monsters under you bed, everyone knows that monsters live in caves and check for humans on the ceiling because they think _we're_ the scary ones, duh!" she giggled a little at the memory.

"Nice one," Piper snickered. She gave Annabeth's locks one last sweep before patting her head. "There, your princess curls have been restored to all of their blonde glory."

"You're a saint, Pipes," she smiled in relief while Piper hummed contentedly in agreement. Annabeth swivelled around to look at her. "A very happy-looking saint. Something I miss?"

"Well," Piper's grin grew to manic proportions. "I've kind of been bursting to tell you since forever but you seemed to have your own problems…"

"Spill it," Annabeth ordered with raised eyebrows. Looking at her best friend now, Annabeth definitely understood the expression 'grinning from ear to ear'.

"Remember how I had an audition last week? Guess who just landed the role of Elphaba in Wicked!" Piper hollered, grabbing Annabeth's shoulders in excitement. "They loved me Annabeth! _They loved me!_ Goodbye 'Pixie No 3' Piper; hello Broadway star Piper McLean!"

"Oh my God Piper, that's amazing! I can't believe you waited this long to tell me!" she wasted no time in crushing her friend in a hug. "I always knew you'd make it."

"I only got the call today," Piper admitted, burying her face in Annabeth's shoulder. "I wanted to tell you but then you called about the paint and then…"

All at once, Annabeth felt horrible. A feeling of guilt settled over her. Here she was, whining about her own problems when something this huge had just happened to her best friend. Note to self, pay more attention to others!

"Are you crying?" Annabeth asked incredulously as she felt Piper's shoulders tremble. "You shouldn't be crying; you should be celebrating!" She firmly believed that every time you overcame a difficult hurdle in your life, you needed to treat yourself to something, a cake or a coffee, a nice new book. Whatever you felt like, so long as you felt that you've earned it. And God knows Piper _earned_ her big break. She remembered pulling all-nighters for her exams while Piper went to pieces over a script, reciting her lines again and again. She and Piper were alike in that way, workaholic to a fault about the things they were passionate about.

"I know, I know," she let go off Annabeth and hastily wiped her eyes. "It's just, there are times you know? When you feel like giving up because it's obviously never going to happen and today- today it just- I-"

"It happened," Annabeth smiled encouragingly. "Come on, we need to go celebrate. Anything you want, my treat."

"Lacy mentioned this ice-cream parlour that she loves. Khione's or something. I'm in the mood for sprinkles. You?" Piper dabbed at her eyes again and gave her a watery smile.

"So long as the place has coffee, I'm sold."

* * *

There were certain undeniable facts of life. Things you just couldn't refuse no matter how hard you tried. The Earth was round, the Earth moved around the sun, global warming was real and Khione's made the best damned confectionaries Annabeth had ever had.

There was just a strange mouth-watering quality about those cakes and pastries and ice-cream cones. It wasn't just her either, Piper came by frequently too (although Annabeth was starting to suspect that that was less for the sweets and more for the blonde cashier). It wasn't like Annabeth was the only one either. The place was almost always full, ergo it must be popular. So she couldn't help herself, she found herself coming the next day and the day after until that fine Sunday, she found herself at the counter without her wallet. Damn.

"Oh shoot," Annabeth muttered under her breath as she rummaged through her bag. She could see the cashier, not the blonde one though, steadily growing impatient with her which wasn't helping her anxiety any nor was the fact that she was ravenously hungry. The line behind her was steadily growing too. "I can't find it."

The cashier sighed irritably. "Well, then I'm afraid you'll-"

"Excuse me," the person behind her in the queue, "But, if you don't mind-"

Annabeth caught on quickly. "Oh no, I couldn't," she insisted hastily out of politeness, even though she really, really wanted this guy to pay for her because to be this close to one of the chocolate muffins and then to be deprived was a sin.

"Nah, it's cool," the guy said breezily, "I mean, no one should be denied Khione's food." And without waiting for her response, he took out a few dollar bills and then handed them to the cashier who rolled his eyes. Annabeth could care less about that though; all she could see was her muffin. And maybe, the slightly attractive guy who had bought it for her. Maybe.

The dude picked up a brownie for himself before stepping aside. He motioned towards a table where Annabeth could see a bag and a laptop open. There was a coffee mug already on it.

"Wanna take a seat?" he gestured towards it with a grin and Annabeth found herself agreeing. Why not? There was nowhere else available anyway, the place was cramped.

As soon as she had seated herself, Annabeth took a bite out of the muffin and almost moaned. "Why is this so good? And thanks by the way," she added quickly, not wanting to seem ungrateful.

"No problem," he answered easily. Annabeth took a moment to look him over with more scrutiny. "And I wasn't kidding either," he continued. "No one should be denied her food. I mean, Khione's a nasty piece of work but this place is amazing. Every day, I tell myself that I won't come here and that I'll find somewhere else to hang out. And then I come here anyway."

"I have never met Khione," Annabeth frowned. It seemed a little odd that he was talking about the owner so informally. He was probably a pretty regular customer then. "She can't be too bad right?"

"Wrong," he snorted with a roll of his eyes. "Trust me; pray you never have to meet her. Then you can go on enjoying the food without loathing yourself for giving her business."

"Ouch," Annabeth muttered, unsure of exactly what to say to that. Instead she chose to take care of something important. "Sorry, just a minute."

She took out her phone and fired off a text to Piper, asking her if she'd please check if Annabeth had left her wallet at their apartment. When she turned back, her companion was typing away on his laptop, chewing on his bottom lip. A little distracting, but Annabeth definitely wasn't paying attention to that. Not at all.

Okay, maybe a little bit. Hey, she was a girl. She was allowed to look.

"Working on something?' she asked curiously, digging into her food once more.

"Uh yeah," he looked up. "I work from home, writing articles for these series of websites dealing with environmental issues. I'm supposed to be doing research for one of those articles right now. Currently though, I'm reading this e-mail from my friend who works for an animal rights group. He's convinced that an eco-terrorist has joined their ranks."

Annabeth frowned, unsure if he was joking or not. Eco-terrorism was a very real thing, after all. Uncommon but dangerous none the less. "That's a serious threat. If he really thinks so-"

"Oh please," he rolled his eyes. "Grover scares easy. This is the guy who was scared of his own shadow until he was twelve. I'm not too worried."

"If you say so. So you're a journalist? Or an environmental activist?" Annabeth could respect that. She'd always admired people like that, who knew what was right and weren't afraid to fight for it. Where would the world be today if it weren't for that handful of people that strived for what they believed in? Her companion however only shrugged in response which Annabeth found a little off-putting.

"Honestly? You know how they say being a parent's a full-time job? That's pretty much me. I'm a dad, everything else I do is practically just a part-time thing," he smiled fondly. Despite herself, Annabeth's eyes glanced down to his left hand where his ring finger was bare of any bands. Which wasn't really indicative of anything in this day and age…Annabeth bit her lip and mentally pictured shaking herself.

"Well, I'm a teacher. My name's Annabeth Chase," she offered with a smile.

Annabeth had expected the guy to give her his name in return. What she hadn't expected was for his eyebrows to rise into the heavens and an incredulous laugh to escape his lips.

"Annabeth Chase?" he asked in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Yes?" Annabeth asked, perplexed by his reaction. She racked her brain, trying to remember if she had ever met him before (which would justify his odd reaction to her name) but unfortunately couldn't place him anywhere. So she settled for asking him directly. "Have we ever met before?"

"Not exactly," he grinned at her sheepishly. "But I have heard of you. A lot. Liv didn't do you much justice, though. You don't look even remotely booger-ish."

"Excuse me?" It was Annabeth's turn to raise her eyebrows, summoning up her best indignant look. Because where did this guy get off, acting like he knew her, then claiming he didn't and then _booger-ish? Booger-ish?!_ That was just crossing a line.

"Sorry, sorry!" he chortled as he raised his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. "I'm Percy Jackson. You teach my daughter's class."

To say that Annabeth was smart would be the understatement of a lifetime so it didn't take her particularly long to connect the dots. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she looked her companion –Percy _Jackson_ \- over, really carefully stared. And, yep, there they were. Sea-green eyes, wild black hair, and the lips that curved in a grin that wouldn't look out of place on the face of the bane of her classroom peace; not to mention that frigging last name. Jesus.

"Jackson?!" she spoke without thinking. "You're Jeopardy Jackson's _dad_?"

Well, she had tried picturing Olivia's parents before but she had never been able to come up with much. Now she knew.

Percy blinked in surprise. "That's what you call her?"

Shoot, she hadn't meant to say that out loud. Annabeth winced a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean- I mean that was unprofessional-"

"No that's…actually pretty cool," Percy seemed thoughtful and Annabeth reigned in a sigh of relief. At least she hadn't offended him. Now that she knew that he was one of her student's dads, well, interacting with him had certainly gotten much harder. Teachers and parents, they weren't meant to interact beyond a classroom with a report card between them. At least Annabeth had never talked to a parent anywhere else before.

"Jeopardy Jackson," Percy hummed pensively. "That has a really nice ring to it."

Annabeth smiled guiltily. "In my defence," she started, "Olivia's…a bit of a handful."

Percy snorted in mirth. "Please," he told her, "a handful? She's my daughter. You don't have to sugar-coat it for me."

"You'd be surprised," she informed him. "A lot of parents aren't willing to hear anything bad about their children."

"Hey, I'm not willing to listen to anything bad about her either. The fact that she's a handful isn't a bad thing; she keeps me on my toes," Annabeth recognized the look on his face, it was the utterly smitten look she'd seen on a lot of parents over the years when they saw their kids doing something stupidly cute like dressing up as a pumpkin for Halloween or being a teapot for the school play. Annabeth hid a similar smile.

"I don't doubt that," she hesitated for a moment. "If you don't mind me asking, I'll be blunt. Why does your daughter hate me?"

"She doesn't hate you!" he protested but at the look Annabeth gave him, he had to relent. "Okay, she hates you a _little_ bit. Just a little. And it's not your fault. Olivia was really attached to Ms Beauregard. She didn't take it well when she moved, mostly because Rachel, her mom, moved to Europe too. She just sees you like a poor replacement. She'll warm up soon enough."

"Oh," Annabeth's brain scrambled together the information he'd just given her. Was it bad that the first thing her brain pieced together was the fact that Olivia's mom was no longer in the picture? It was a little bad wasn't it? "Does…does she really think I look like a booger?"

"…Yes," Percy winced sympathetically. "And sunny-side-up eggs. Which, trust me, is an insult."

Annabeth bristled with indignation. "Yes, thank you for that," she rolled her eyes at him.

"Sorry," he apologized again even though he didn't look remotely sorry at all. Just then, Annabeth's phone buzzed. She swiped it to discover a text from Piper confirming that she had indeed left her wallet at her apartment.

"Oh I should be leaving," Annabeth murmured, getting up and hefting her bag onto her shoulder. "I need to find my wallet. Thanks again for this."

"Already?" Percy's face shifted into an almost pout. "Well, I suppose I did ruin my chances at getting your number with the booger thing."

Annabeth paused in shock, caught off guard by the sudden words.

"Too upfront?" he asked her and for the first in during the length of the whole conversation, he seemed a little shy. And she couldn't help herself either; she let a small smile grace her features too. Technically, technically, it wasn't against the rules. It was just exchanging numbers after all. And it had been a long time since Annabeth had met anyone new, expanding her social circle a little wouldn't be too bad.

"Maybe not," she told him. She grabbed a napkin, took out a red pen from her pocket and scribbled out her number. Before handing it to him, she informed him with a sly grin, "Just one condition: text me tips on how to get into your daughter's good books?"

"Will do," he answered, accepting the napkin. And if Annabeth walked away from that with a spring in her step, well that was entirely her business.

The next day, Monday, was the first time Annabeth saw Jeopardy Jackson- ahem, _Olivia_ \- again after the paint incident. Somehow she wasn't surprised to see that she was the first one in the class, much earlier than she usually was. From where her desk was situated, Annabeth could see Olivia struggling with herself, shuffling awkwardly around the doorway. She didn't hint that she knew the girl there, simply pretended to be writing something in her planner.

After two more minutes of indecision Olivia finally seemed to make up her mind. She strode forward purposefully and stopped in front of Annabeth's desk. One other thing Annabeth admired about the girl, she had a mean strut.

"Yes, Olivia?" she addressed her politely.

"My daddy said that I wasn' allowed cupcakes anymore till I said sorry," she mumbled almost defiantly, looking Annabeth straight in the eyes. "So, sorry."

Oh dear.

Annabeth sighed and stood up, rounding the corner of her desk until she was right in front of her charge. Kneeling down so that they were at eye-level with each other, she spoke softly, "Olivia, are you saying that because you're genuinely sorry? Or are you saying that because you want cupcakes?"

Olivia only shrugged in response.

"Olivia," Annabeth made sure to keep her soft but stern. "I am not Ms Beauregard. And I will never be Ms Beauregard and this is a good thing." Olivia frowned at her but said nothing, for which Annabeth was grateful.

"I'm Ms Chase just like you're Olivia. I know that Ms Beauregard held a very special place in your heart and I could never replace her. But," she poked a finger against her student's rib-cage, "I don't want to replace her, I want my own place in your heart. You do have a big heart, don't you?" She widened her eyes to emphasize the question. Olivia's eyebrows gathered in a frown.

"I do!" she protested.

"Think you can find a little room in there for me?" Annabeth smiled.

"…Maybe," Olivia shuffled her feet awkwardly. "But Ms Beauregard's really cool. You'll have to be cool too."

"I'll be cool," Annabeth promised. "I'll be the coolest."

Her lips puckered a little as if she didn't believe that Annabeth could be cool (hurtful but Annabeth was an expert at proving people wrong). Annabeth could see other student filing into the classroom so without further ado, she told Olivia to take a seat.

Over the course of the day, Olivia wasn't particularly engaged in the classwork but she wasn't actively glaring at her either so Annabeth was going to chalk this one up as a win.

After Annabeth returned home and collapsed into bed, she swiped her phone to find two new text messages there from an unknown number.

[15:00] _tip of the day 1: she accepts only starfish or seahorse stickers on her work_

[15:15] _tip of the day 2: purple is her favourite colour. evrything can be purple no exceptions_

Annabeth grinned slightly before tapping out her response.

[15:26] **Stop, don't tell me anymore. I want to figure it out myself.**

A solid five minutes later came his reply.

[15:31] _gud luck_

Oh that good luck seemed to be mocking her. Annabeth bit her lip in hesitation then quickly began writing again before she could change her mind.

[15:34] **Okay, just one more tip. For luck.**

[15:36] tip of the day 3: _u can bribe her into almost anything with cupcakes_

Annabeth snorted.

* * *

[11:01] _U know what wud have been embarrassing?_

[11:01] _if u'd given me a totally fake number and then we had to meet at a parent-teacher thing._

[11:05] **I'm in class Percy.**

[11:05] _lies its recess._

[11:07] **Okay, yes. But still technically school hours.**

[11:10] **Has that happened often? The fake-number thing**?

[11:10] _Wat happened to school hrs? And no I dont get out enough for that._

[11:11] _Happened to my friends tho._

[11:12] **Ouch.**

[11:17] **What's a fluffer nutter?**

[11:18] _did liv tell u about that?_

[11:18] **She's telling Sophie about it.**

[11:19] _r u spying on my daughter?_

[11:19] **No.**

[11:22] **Yes.**

[11:22] _Lol!_

[11:23] **Answer the question**

[11:23] _take some marshmallows. roast some of em, dip the rest in chocolate/peanut butter/both. Serve in a bowl. that's a fluffer nutter._

[11:24] **Jesus that sounds like diabetes…I want some.**

[11:24] _I also make a mean peach pie_

[11:25] **Sold.**

[11:26] _Ill invite you over next time._

[11:28] **I'll hold you to that**

* * *

"Texting your girlfriend again?"

Percy's head snapped up from his phone to glance worriedly at Olivia who was lying on the couch with her colouring book in front of her, tunelessly humming Old McDonald's. Mercifully she seemed to not have heard a thing, too engrossed in slathering the book in neon markers regardless of the designated lines.

Percy turned his eyes to glare at Leo who had the gall to _smirk_ at him; that imp. His hands were flying across Olivia's Lego blocks, piecing them together and prying them apart again. There was no such thing as a manual for Leo Valdez.

"Gee, a little louder, why don't you?" he grumbled, turning his attention back to his phone.

Leo made a show of clearing his throat loudly which prompted Percy to whack him upside the head before he could claim his daughter's attention. Leo had no shame of course, which was why he was still smirking at Percy and why his eyebrows were doing the disco.

"You gotta tell her about the birds and the bees sometime, Jackson!"

"Okay, a) She is not my girlfriend," Percy told him shortly while Leo scoffed. "b) I'm reading a text from Grover telling me how their newest volunteer has taken to carrying around a baseball bat. And c) please never have kids, _ever_."

"Yeah but she's texting you too right?" Leo replied. "You've got that dopey grin on your face; you know the kind that sixth graders get when their crush looks at them sideways?"

"I don't have a dopey grin!"

Okay, maybe Percy did text Annabeth a lot and maybe he did call her up pretty often to talk about absolutely nothing at all. No big deal, he did it with all of his friends.

…And alright, maybe he didn't feel quite as giddy when it was anyone else's name across his screen. And maybe he anticipated her calls a little too much and maybe he couldn't wait to see her again except he hadn't really found a good way to ask her out again and was hoping for another coincidence set up by the universe. No big deal, right?

Oh sweet pancakes and jellybeans, he had a _crush_ (yes that was totally what he was going to call it because everyone knew Percy was really just a twelve year old at heart).

Leo ignored his protest and continued impishly, "Is it because Liv thinks she's a booger? Is that why you're denying it?"

Percy rolled his eyes and put down his phone. Obviously that thing was only going to get him into deeper boiling oil with Leo. "I'll have you know that Liv doesn't think she's that booger-ish anymore." It was a small victory but Percy was willing to take it.

"Seriously? How'd that happen?" Without waiting for an answer, Leo turned towards his daughter and yelled out, "Hey Liv! Do you still hate Ms Chase?"

Oh Percy could see the struggle in her eyes. She wanted to say yes, how badly she wanted to say yes. Except Olivia spoke only her mind and nothing else. Telling fibs had never been a problem he'd faced with her. Too much truth in front of way too many people? Yeah that one was a real doozy. Thus she couldn't even lie to herself so Percy was hardly surprised by the words that came out of her mouth.

"….Noooo…" she spoke slowly, begrudging every word. "She's ok. But her hair's still ugly-butter-yellow!"

And as if that settled the argument, she turned back to her drawing.

"Poor chick," Leo shook his head. He put a few finishing touches on his model, which Percy now recognized as a multi-coloured submarine before letting out a low whistle. "Princess Olivia, come here and check out the S.S McAwesome!"

Olivia's head perked up, eyes lit with expectation. Abandoning her pens she made her way towards the table.

"Woah!" she breathed out as she set her eyes on Leo's creation.

"Like it?" he asked. Olivia nodded empathetically in response.

"Think you can make something like that at school tomorrow?" Leo queried.

"Uh-huh!" she grinned, getting up on the tips of her toes in an effort to reach the submarine. Percy snatched her up by the waist (she squealed at that) and then set her on the table. Immediately, she set about dismantling it. Percy snickered while Leo groaned.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I even build her stuff," he grumbled.

"Because she asks nicely," Percy answered sagely. "Have you packed up all your sticks?" he asked Olivia.

"Nuh-uh," she frowned, trying to pry apart two pieces and failing miserably. Percy took the pieces from her fingers and forced them apart, handing the separated ones to her. She took one in each hand and carefully set them aside.

"You should go do that now, you'll forget later." Not that Percy wouldn't put them in for her if she forgot but hey, she didn't need to know that.

"Busy!" she pouted at him, waving energetically at the completely wrecked submarine poor Leo had just spent half-an-hour on.

"Now," Percy answered, grabbing the blocks she was reaching for. Looking highly affronted, his spawn crossed her arms and blew him a raspberry. As soon as she was done with that however, she raised her arms to him so that she could be let down. Percy grinned. As much as Percy couldn't stay mad at Olivia for long (or ever), she couldn't hold a grudge against him for more than a few minutes either. Their relationship was cool like that.

Once Percy had put her on the floor she scampered off to stuff the small pile of ice-cream sticks at the foot of the couch into her Minnie Mouse schoolbag. It had always disturbed Percy, how you had to behead Minnie Mouse every time you wanted to put something inside but Olivia had fallen in love with the bag in an instant so death to Minnie Mouse it was.

Tomorrow would be make-stuff-with-sticks-day. Well, that wasn't what it was called but that was essentially what they would be doing. Basically the entire kindergarten class would engage in making models with sticks and would succeed in making maybe a tree or a really wonky stick figure that disassembled itself on the ride home but their parents would love it anyway and put it on a place of honour on the mantelpiece or showcase.

In preparation for it, Percy had bought dozens of popsicles and toothpicks. And because not even he could finish that many ice-creams at once (and no way was he letting Olivia's teeth rot) he'd invited over a bunch of his friends to finish the job. Jason had left early, something about having a date, while Nico and Will had excused themselves soon after. That had left just Leo to help find Olivia something to build. …And to annoy the living daylights out of Percy about his non-existent love-life.

Just then Percy's phone buzzed. He grabbed it before Leo could get his nosy hands on it and swiped the screen.

[18:34] **What's Olivia making tomorrow? My project's going to be awesome.**

[18:35] _r u seriously gonna compete with a bunch of six yrs. olds?_

[18:37] **Not compete! Just wow them with my skills.**

[18:38] **I just really like building models okay? Like a personal hobby.**

[18:38] _seriously? Somehow I can actually see u doing that._

[18:40] **My dad taught me when I was a kid. Ssssh don't tell anyone but I was that kid with model train sets with tracks in their basement.**

Percy was just about to type up his response when he heard his friend click his tongue.

"Dude," Leo shook his head in mock sympathy. "You really need to get laid."

"You," Percy pointed a menacing finger, "need to butt out." He might as well have been talking to a wall for all the good it did.

The next day when Percy went to pick Olivia up from school, he got the surprise of a lifetime.

"Ms Chase is the coolest person ever!" Olivia nearly screeched in his face as soon as he got close to her.

Who are you, Percy thought bemusedly, and what have you done with my daughter? But before he could ask her anything, she grabbed him by the sleeves.

"She built a rocket ship!" Olivia spoke reverently. "A rocket ship! She went like this," she shook her hands wildly and the smile spread wider across Percy's face. "And rocket ship! So cool!" Olivia punched the air.

"Yeah you mentioned the rocket ship bit," Percy laughed as she started dragging him into the school building. "Wait, where are we going?"

"I get to keep the rocket ship," Olivia impatiently frowned at him. Her expression spoke volumes. Something along the lines of 'How dare he waste time asking questions when there was a whopping rocket ship to collect, stupid Daddy'.

"Why?" Percy raised an eyebrow suspiciously as he followed along.

"Ms Chase finished early. Then she said, 'whoever finishes first gets my one as a prize,'" Olivia explained gleefully. "An' I did, I finished. So I get a prize!"

"Did you make a submarine?"

"A fish-marine!" she declared proudly. "It's a fishy submarine."

Could Percy really be blamed for laughing? Before he knew it he was standing in front of her classroom as she pushed the door open with a beaming smile on her face.

"Ms Chase! I wanna show Daddy the rocket ship!"

Annabeth was sitting at her desk with her curly hair in a bun. It was a good thing that the window was on the other side, Percy noted idly, because the afternoon sun peeking in made her hair catch light in a pretty brilliant way- yeah, okay. Crushing. Hard.

Percy turned his eyes to contents of her desk as a distraction. She was surrounded by papers with sticks pasted on them. Apparently most of the kids had given up on the whole 3-D thing and just made rough pictures with the sticks. On her table sat what Percy had to admit was a pretty sweet model. Made of ice-cream sticks, toothpicks and wooden tongue depressors, it was around twelve inches high and rather sturdily built. The round shape reminded Percy vaguely of an egg.

At Olivia's words Annabeth looked up towards them. Her lips quirked into a knowing smile and she raised an eyebrow at him. Percy let out a low whistle of appreciation.

"Impressed?" she smirked.

"Jim Kirk on a T-rex! That's just…wow. Bet you aced wood shop in high school."

"That's-yeah I, I'm sorry Jim Kirk on what?" Annabeth frowned and if frowns could be incredulous, hers certainly was.

"Some people have a swear jar," Percy explained. "We have 'the most creative alternative used'".

"…Well if it helps, that is probably the most creative alternative I have ever heard used," Annabeth rolled her eyes, as if she couldn't quite believe the words that had come out of his mouth.

"Eh, I've used better."

Olivia chose just this moment to interrupt them, thankfully oblivious to the informal rapport between the two adults or the fact that her dad seemed to know her teacher from beforehand.

"Told ya it was cool!" she aimed her next question at Annabeth. "Can I have it now Ms Chase, please?"

Annabeth shared a humorous glance with Percy. "Well, you did finish first in class," she pretended to consider. "Then again, you do act up a lot in class…"

A low whine escaped her throat and Percy reigned in a chuckle. "You promised," she accused.

"I did," Annabeth admitted. "But you have to promise too. Promise to be good in class and to listen to what I say?"

"Yep, yep," Olivia rolled onto the balls of her feet impatiently.

"Tsk, tsk. Bribery," Percy whispered secretively after handing over Olivia's prize to her.

"I do what it takes to get the job done," Annabeth replied smoothly.

It was a good thing that Olivia so busy gushing over her new plaything, she didn't notice the discreet high-five her father and teacher shared.

* * *

It was a relief when Olivia finally started liking Annabeth. Percy wasn't sure why but it felt like a great weight had lifted off his shoulders. Bribery with a wooden toy (although to be fair Olivia had earned it) seemed to have done the trick. Nowadays Olivia came home with stories like 'Ms Chase taught us how to make paper plate kitties' and 'she made us magnet maps' and 'we made pictures with beans'. Not jelly beans though, thank God. That would have been such a waste.

The rocket ship, a little chipped and peppered with colourful fingerprints, had a place of honour on the shelf in her room.

"So Ms Chase is cool now?" Jason had asked her in jest one day.

"She's great!" Olivia had beamed back.

Percy agreed whole-heartedly, she was amazing. Smart, funny, cute, conniving- just plain _amazing_. And therein lay the problem; she was a little too amazing. He couldn't stop thinking about her.

…It wouldn't exactly be right to ask out his daughter's teacher. There was a bucket load of problems with it. It might be against school policy, it might affect Olivia and Annabeth's relationship (which Annabeth had forged with a lot of fire) and there were always concerns with partiality.

And even if he did have the guts to ask, there was no guarantee that she'd say yes. If she didn't, things would definitely get awkward. Not to mention that Percy hadn't been a real, _serious_ date in almost six years…Fine, Leo had a point. But honestly, he'd always been so busy with his daughter, especially in the first three years of her life, he'd never really bothered to think about it. He'd never had the time; he'd never had the interest. Not until now. Which led him to where he was right now: sitting in front of the laptop thinking about things like this when he should be writing a scathing article.

Percy sighed and pressed his fingers to his temple. Khione's. Troublesome things always happen at Khione's.

Percy's phone buzzed to life and he glanced at it. Not Annabeth. But someone he hadn't talked to in a while. Percy smiled. As soon as he answered and agreed to accept charges for the international call, the voice rang out.

"Word on the street is you finally got yourself a girl Jackson. Who, when, where and how? I want details."

"Hello to you too, Rachel," Percy rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, Leo told you."

Rachel snorted. "If Leo told me, I would _already_ know all the details. Jason mentioned that you liked someone last time we talked. Then he clamped up, that dorky gentleman. So who is she?" Her voice sounded a strange combination of maliciousness and glee, Percy thought uncomfortably.

"This girl…I met at Khione's," Percy spoke slowly. "I got her number."

"And?" Rachel pressed urgently. "Have you gone on a date yet?"

Man, sometimes he wished Rachel was one of _those_ exes. You know the ones who weren't really mean but maintained a generally cool and formal exterior and never asked you anything personal about how your life was going. Instead Rachel happened to be one of those badgering best friends like Leo except Rachel was worse than Leo. Leo complained about his non-existent love-life, Rachel complained about his non-existent sex-life.

"No…"

"Why not?" she sounded distraught, Percy noted bemusedly.

"Well…" he hesitated. "She's kind of Olivia's teacher." There was a pause on the other end. "In my defence," he added hastily, "I didn't know when I met her." And that was true, he'd found out a full fifteen minutes later.

"I should have guessed," Rachel's voice sounded amused. "'Ms Chase this and Ms Chase that' and all of your 'Come on Liv, she's not so bad' and 'her hair's not that ugly'. Not to mention that smug look on your face when Olivia finally started warming up to her. Anyway, what if she is Olivia's teacher? She's not _your_ teacher. Ask her!"

"It's not that simple," Percy groaned. "I mean, what if it causes problems with her job? What if Liv doesn't approve? You know how temperamental she can be. And besides," he leaned back in his chair to ease the discomfort in his shoulders, "I haven't been on a date in years."

"Years?" Rachel spoke incredulously and that irked Percy. "Seriously, Percy? Have you dated anyone since we broke up?"

"Well I was kind of busy-"

"Raising Olivia," Rachel finished glumly. Just like that, all of Percy's irritation dissipated. Oh no, he knew this guilty tone.

"Hey," his voice softened, "I thought we settled this?"

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled. "I'm still her mother, you know, so I'm still susceptible to all those sentimental things. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret my decision. It's just that sometimes, I can't help but think of the 'what ifs'."

"What ifs don't change anything, remember?" he gently reminded her. "We all made the decisions we thought was best. You deserve to be happy Rachel, you deserve your life exactly the way you planned it. And don't worry; you're still her number one."

"Yes but for how long?" Rachel sighed and Percy wanted to say something to comfort her but he was really bad at this. Rachel used to say that he was denser than a rock while Grover used to helpfully add that he was more oblivious than a sloth too. "Never mind," Rachel's voice abruptly changed before Percy could respond. "You're still asking Ms Chase out on a date. There is absolutely no wheedling out of this one. And where is my little cupcake anyway? I wanna talk to her."

"Don't call her a cupcake," Percy said in a horrified tone. "That'd just make her a vicious cannibal. And she's over at a friend's house. We're going to a pet store later on."

"Seriously? You're finally getting her a pet?"

Of course he was. Percy was incapable of saying no.

"Well, not a dog or a cat," he informed her. "There's no room in our apartment. Something we can put in a cage or a terrarium. She's not sure what she wants yet, so we're not going to get one today. Just check things out."

"Well, Liv does like her creepy-crawlies." There was a rustling sound on the other end. "Talk to you later okay? And call her!" she said just before hanging up. Percy sighed

Call her? Yeah right. Rachel might have called to convince him to ask her out but all she had accomplished was make him more hesitant than he was before. Olivia loved Rachel but their relationship was a pretty delicate one. One missed Skype session led to a week's worth of pouting, one postcard or gift left her smiling for days. Him dating someone else…well he wasn't sure how Liv would react to that. Especially when that person was Annabeth.

Just as Percy was finally about to turn to his laptop once more, his phone rang again. He picked it up and saw the name across the screen.

Speak of the devil.

And despite all the internal turmoil she was currently causing him, Percy couldn't help but feel ridiculously excited when he answered the phone.

"Why didn't you tell me that one of your friends worked at Khione's?" Annabeth sounded delighted.

"Uh, it never came up?" Percy blinked in surprise. "I take it you've met Jason?"

"Met Jason?" Annabeth groaned this time. "I've seen a little too much of Jason."

"What?"

"The world is a small place," she spoke mysteriously, "and the centre of the universe is Khione's. Can you meet me there?"

Percy glanced at the clock. He had to pick up Olivia from Sophie's in two hours and then go window-shopping for pets. He had an article due in two days and he'd managed to write maybe two and a half paragraphs. The reason for that was Annabeth Chase, the girl right here, who was currently asking him to abandon his work and come to a café.

Of course he said yes.

* * *

"So your best friend Piper has been dating _my_ best friend Jason for over two weeks and we just realized this now?" Percy asked in an unbelieving tone.

It was funny actually. All this time, Annabeth had assumed that the reason Piper was always so late to come home was because she was busy with rehearsals. Apparently not. What were the chances though? She met a cute guy at a café who turned out to be her student's dad, and then her best friend met a cute guy at the same café who, as it turns out, knew Annabeth's guy- err, Percy.

The only difference was Piper had actually managed to get Jason to go out with her. Annabeth had no such luck. Man, the universe was just screwing with her at this point.

She abruptly realized that she was staring at Percy and hastily turned her glance to her cup.

"I didn't even know she was seeing someone," Annabeth looked at Piper as she spoke. She had mentioned this about a dozen times already but she felt that the point hadn't been emphasized enough. Piper simply rolled her eyes. "Not until I found them making out on my couch."

" _Our_ couch," Piper corrected with a sip of her coffee while Jason turned beet red and spluttered. Then she turned to Percy. "So you're Jeopardy Jackson's dad, huh?"

"I'm thinking of getting that embroidered on a sweater for her," Percy answered contemplatively. "It's a seriously fitting name."

"Where is she anyway?" Annabeth asked. "I kind of expected you to refuse or bring her along. Babysitter?"

"Nah, she's at Sophie's place for a tea party," Percy replied. "Olivia's always the monster that crashes the party and Sophie is always the princess that saves the day. The rest of them are the damsels. I'll pick her up in an hour or so. We're supposed to be getting a pet."

"Why didn't we ever make up plots like that when we were kids?" Piper mused out loud. At the same time, Jason spoke.

"Didn't you kill three of your pet goldfish?" he asked warily.

"Four," Percy grimaced and Annabeth raised her eyebrows in shock. Piper let out an appreciative whistle.

"If I remember correctly, you also crushed Nico's tarantula under your foot," Jason supplied another helpful reminder while Annabeth made a disgusted face.

"Hey, that was an accident!" he protested. "I'm not a teenager anymore, I'll be careful this time around." To Annabeth, he didn't sound entirely sure.

"It was a tarantula," Annabeth shivered. "Who cares?" People who kept spiders for pets obviously had something wrong with them. And people could say what they liked, spiders were legitimately scary and Annabeth refused to be embarrassed by her phobia. Didn't mean she would go around telling others about it though.

"Nico did," Jason answered. "Didn't talk to him for, like, a year."

"Speaking of goldfish," Percy suddenly turned to Annabeth, as if just remembering something important. Annabeth wrenched her thoughts away from unpleasant arachnids and equally unpleasant childhood memories involving arachnids. "Did you really tell Liv that the Little Mermaid sucked?"

"What?" Annabeth cried out indignantly, completely taken aback and desperately trying to figure out where he would have gotten such an idea. "I did not! Why would I tell a little kid that?"

"Olivia said you did," Percy accused with a stern look. He reminded her strikingly of Athena in that moment. "Liv's a lot of things but she's not a fibber."

"She's an exaggerate-er," Annabeth pursed her lips. She finally remembered the incident Percy was referring to. It had happened ages ago though. She wasn't sure why Olivia had brought it up with Percy now. "And she eavesdropped!"

Percy let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'pot' and 'kettle'. Her cheeks flushed a little and from the corner of her eye, she could see Piper smirking.

"I was talking to one of the other kids while she was painting," Annabeth explained with as much patience as she could muster. "We were talking about princesses. She mentioned Ariel. I said I didn't like her that much. That's it!"

"Wait, you actually don't like the Little Mermaid?" Percy's eyes turned as round as saucers. Well, it was nice to know that he had enough faith in her to believe that she would tell a kid that a movie sucked.

"You do?" Annabeth was just as stupefied.

"Why wouldn't I?" he sounded scandalized. "It's the Little Mermaid! What's your favourite movie then?"

"Beauty and the Beast."

"You mean Stockholm Syndrome?" Percy gave her an unimpressed look.

Oh no, he didn't. Oh no, he just did not. She knew he couldn't be perfect.

She could see Piper rolling her eyes again and Jason glancing back and forth between them in amusement. She ignored them.

"As if-" Annabeth started furiously, only to get cut off.

"Are you two gigantic nerds actually going to fight over Disney films now?" Piper laughed disbelievingly.

"Not fight!" Annabeth defended. Then she continued in her best Athena impression. "We are just going to have an intelligent discussion about the merits and shortcomings of each film."

Piper snickered. "Right, you two have fun with that. As for me, I still have some time to kill before rehearsal so if you'll excuse us," she stood up and grabbed Jason by the elbow, "there's a couch with our name on it."

Annabeth impatiently waved them off and made a footnote in her mind to get that couch cleaned. "Where were we?" she addressed Percy. "Oh right. Ariel is a terrible role model! What kind of message is she giving little girls everywhere? Change for your man? Give up your voice?"

"See? That!" There was frustration in his eyes but there was also glee hidden there as well. "What's wrong with you people? 'Change for your man', why do always conveniently forget the part where she always wanted to be human! She even sings a song about it in the beginning way before she met Eric. Eric was just…a catalyst."

"She fell in love with him at first _sight_."

"Which happens in a lot of fairy tales," he pointed out. "They're fairy tales."

"Doesn't make it a good thing."

"Ah yes, so you'd rather little girls learn to fall in love with their _kidnappers_. Excellent." Percy rolled his eyes.

"If you think about it," Annabeth impatiently tapped her foot. "Belle kind of ceased to be a prisoner when she ran away that first time. Then the Beast rescued her from the wolves, and then she _chose_ to come back."

"So it's okay if Belle chooses to return to a guy who scared the bejesus out of her a bunch of times but not okay if Ariel chooses to live on land for her own sake and for a perfectly nice guy. Eric didn't have to save her to prove to the audience he had a heart."

"Okay, that fact that the Beast has a hidden heart of gold is kind of what the story is about," Annabeth groaned, "And also, Ariel makes really stupid decisions at every turn of the story."

"Which goes a long way in making her an interesting character," Percy argued and Annabeth was surprised to see a playful grin on his face. More surprisingly still, she was smiling too. She really was enjoying this, wasn't she? She felt childish and irrational but she felt good. Needless arguments about a Disney film, Percy could make anything fun. Damn, did she have it bad or what? "Belle's just too perfect," he finished.

"Yes but-"

"Crust," Percy interrupted, looking towards the door. Annabeth frowned and followed his gaze. An impeccably dressed woman with a pale face and black hair was entering the place.

"Know her?" Annabeth tried to quell the irrational annoyance that flared inside her.

"Khione Winters," he scowled. "Everything's paid for right?" he gestured towards the cups on the table. At Annabeth's nod, he got up. "Good," he grabbed her wrist much to her surprise, "let's get outta here."

He gave Annabeth just enough time to grab her purse before dragging her outside. Annabeth's nerves were frazzled a little by that, focusing a little too intently than was appropriate on the way his hand encircled her wrist. And wouldn't it be grand, if she could just slip her hand through his right now and intertwine their fingers?

Just as the thought came to her, she had to shake it out of her head because Percy had let go of her hand as soon as they were outside and she refused to let the disappointment well in her now.

"What was that about?" Annabeth grumbled and unconsciously cradled her wrist in her other hand.

"Sorry," he sheepishly ran his hand through his hair. "I just really can't stand her."

"Then why keep coming here," she murmured irritably (because how dare he make her think these things, that jerk) as they started walking down the street. "Just for the food?"

"That and because old habits die hard," he shrugged a little helplessly. "I've kind of been coming here since college. Back then, the place was run by Boreas and it used to be called Winters'. He had a soft spot for Jason so he used to make his sons bring us the café's leftovers at the end of the day to the dormitories. He was a big help when Olivia was born."

There was a soft fondness to his features as he spoke. It was obvious that he was remembering something nostalgic.

And this could be it, it's as good a chance as any to ask Percy about Olivia and her mom, why she was in Paris, when had Olivia been born; all the things she'd been dying to know but had thought too invasive to ask outright. Annabeth opened her mouth to ask- then hesitated for just a moment too long. Just enough time for Percy to change the subject back.

"So you were about to tell me about why Belle's a good role-model right?" he gave her a teasing smile again which Annabeth returned half-heartedly.

As she delved back into the argument (or rather, _intelligent discussion_ ) she couldn't help but feel her previous enthusiasm drain out of her.

They walked aimlessly for a while, bantering back and forth before finally calling a truce on the Disney films. The two of them made small talk and Annabeth managed to learn that Percy talked a lot. He had a large number of cousins and friends that he kept in touch with, that his mom had a love for musicals and insisted that everyone else love them too, that Olivia's favourite animal was the octopus, that she snored a little in her sleep and would never let anyone but Percy and her aunt Hazel tie her hair. The most important thing she learned about him was that he couldn't go ten minutes without talking about his daughter. For someone who grew up in a strict household where affection was measured in terms of achievement, it was sickeningly heart-warming, never failing to bring a smile to Annabeth's face. On the other hand, it brought a twist to Annabeth's gut as well, reminding her of exactly what she was getting into. Or trying and failing to get into, whatever the case may be.

Annabeth heaved a sigh. Her mind just wasn't on the conversation anymore. If anything it was on how close Percy's hand seemed to be to hers at any given time, how effortless it would be to just take it into her own…except she didn't know what would happen after that. Did she need to get laid or what?

She could hear Piper's voice in her head. _Stop overthinking things! Just grab him! You teenaged goober!_

But Annabeth wasn't good at the sort of thing. Spontaneous actions, spur of the moment decisions- those were all Piper's fortes. Annabeth thought and she thought and she thought until the moment passed and all her efforts were for nought.

"You okay?" Percy regarded her curiously. "You seem kinda out of it."

"Fine," Annabeth tried to rid herself of her worries. "I was just thinking about something else."

Percy nodded thoughtfully before turning his attention to a house a few ways down the street. "Hey we're here!"

When Annabeth looked to see what he was referring to, she realised that they hadn't been walking aimlessly after all. On the steps to the entrance of a building a few ways down sat a familiar figure chatting with another familiar figure. Olivia and Sophie, her students. A bored teenager was playing on his phone on a step above the two children, obviously having been tasked with keeping an eye on them.

"Liv!" Percy called out as soon as he was within earshot and the girl looked up, her expression brightening immediately. She hurriedly stuffed some cards into her bag, waved goodbye to Sophie then practically ran into Percy's arms giggling. He picked her up with practiced ease while Annabeth looked on fondly.

Honestly, these two. Forget fluffer nutters, being in their presence alone would give Annabeth diabetes. And damn it, she wouldn't even mind it.

"Ms Chase!" Olivia squealed over Percy's shoulder. "Why're you here?"

She didn't look upset or suspicious. Just genuinely curious and, _dare Annabeth think it_ , excited. That brought warmth to her chest, the thought that Jeopardy Jackson could be excited to meet Annabeth Chase.

"Well I ran into your father at a café," she told her with a kindly smile, her classroom 'I'm you teacher and I'm here to help' smile. "And then we just ended up walking here."

Percy set her down and Olivia hurried over to Annabeth and grabbed her hand. The same hand that Percy had grabbed before incidentally. Like father, like daughter she supposed.

"Are you gonna help us pick a pet?" Olivia chattered eagerly, shaking Annabeth's hand with each word.

"Uh, well-"

"Sure, she is," Percy answered for her. "I bet Ms Chase knows all about animals."

Annabeth did know a lot but that was beside the point. She narrowed her eyes at Percy who shrugged.

"Why not?" He asked her. "Unless you have something better to do…" And that his expression turned a little uncomfortable.

Thank you, she thought sourly, for considering the fact that I might have plans that would prevent me from roaming around a dark, noisy pet store trekking after you and your daughter. The fact that Annabeth didn't really have any plans today after all was just a coincidence. Well, whatever. What harm could it do? So she agreed.

"Yes!" Olivia punched the air and took off at a run. "Come on, come on!" she egged them on gleefully. Percy dashed after her.

"Hold on! Not so fast!"

In the end Percy managed to reign in his boisterous daughter and they walked down the street hand-in-hand with Annabeth trailing behind them and trying not to feel out of place.

And that was how Annabeth found herself using her day off, stuck in a pet store facing her greatest enemy.

"It's so cute!" Olivia turned practically bug-eyed at the specimen before her.

"It's a tarantula!" Annabeth did not shriek. No she did not. Adult women did not shriek at arachnids. The fact that the second shop assistant had looked up in alarm from the other end of the store was another complete coincidence.

"I understand your concern, Ma'am," the shop assistant smiled good-naturedly. "But tarantulas are actually fairly harmless. It's all a misunderstanding. Here, let me just-"

Oh the horror of horrors, what was this sickly teenager doing. Annabeth's face turned a shade of green as the assistant reached into the tank and let, _actually willingly let_ , the spider crawl up his arm. A whimper left Annabeth's lips as she unconsciously started inching back.

"Cool, can I touch it?" Olivia's voice could barely be heard over the ringing panic in Annabeth's ears.

"No touching," Percy told her sternly but he didn't even look at Olivia's answering pout. His eyes were on Annabeth. At any other time, this would be the part where Annabeth's heart did a little tap-dance. Right now, it was threatening to burst out of her chest for all the wrong reasons.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine," Annabeth squeaked then cleared her throat. "Can't you get something else?"

"Well," the assistant considered. "You mentioned a terrarium and spiders are the best animals for one of those…"

"How about a hamster? Or a guinea pig?" Annabeth interrupted with a desperate suggestion. "Those are kept in cages right?"

Olivia made a disgusted face. "Hamsters are fat and hairy and ugly. I like this one better," she pointed gleefully at the spider now on the assistant's shoulder. The freckly teenager now seemed positively enamoured by the child while Annabeth by contrast, quickly felt all her affections for Olivia drain away.

"Hamsters are ugly but spiders are cute? What?" she turned to Percy for an explanation. The best he could give her was a helpless shrug. Olivia ignored Percy's instructions and ran a finger up one of the spider's legs. In response the spider ran up the assistant's back and then the two of them giggled. Oh god, oh god, oh god _. What was wrong with them?_

Annabeth closed her eyes and shuddered. She only opened them when she felt something on her hand. Her fingers froze for a minute, thinking that it was another spider. Then she realized that it was Percy, linking her fingers with his own. Honestly, if he'd just done this any other time…

"Relax," he said kindly. He didn't seem to be mocking her for her phobia and that was always a good start. "It's just a spider. If push comes to shove, I'll protect you," he winked and yes, Annabeth was blushing now.

"Maybe," Annabeth cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Maybe we could get something else? There has to something else right?"

The shop assistant looked sorely disappointed as did Olivia. "But look at it Daddy!" she pleaded.

"Come on now," he told her consolingly. "If your mother doesn't like it-"

Annabeth's whole world seemed to come to a standstill for a split second as she processed what he had just said. Then time seemed to speed up twice as fast and Annabeth and Percy let go of their intertwined hands as if the touch had burned. All at once, the shop was filled with a chorus of indignant splutters and denials.

"I'm not her mom-"

"She isn't my-"

"She's not my mommy!" Perhaps Olivia's voice is the loudest of all and Annabeth can't help but wince a little at it. The poor assistant winced as well. Annabeth could see the guilt in his eyes and she wanted to reassure him that it's okay, really, an easy mistake to make but her burning cheeks kept her lips firmly shut. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Percy resolutely looking anywhere but at her.

"I'm really sorry," he rushed out. "I didn't mean to imply."

"It's fine," Percy cut him off quickly, perhaps sensing that only more awkwardness could ensue from continuing this conversation. The teenager hastily swallowed and put the spider back.

"Ms Chase is my teacher," Olivia continued, oblivious to the atmosphere around her. "My mommy's in Paris, she's an artist…"

Olivia cheerily trailed off as the assistant led her away from the glass cage full of spiders. As Olivia talked, the guy kept sending Annabeth sympathetic glances. That was when Annabeth finally managed to comprehend his train of thought. He thought that Annabeth was Percy's girlfriend and that Olivia was one of those bratty kids who refused to acknowledge it. Yes she could see it in the looks he gave her. Fiddlesticks.

Would it be too rude to just simply walk out of here right now? She refused to look at Percy right now which was just as well because Percy was probably avoiding her gaze too.

"Daddy, look! It's yellow," Olivia gushed and Percy moved forward to indulge, perhaps grateful for the excuse to change the subject. Annabeth trailed behind, trying to be enthusiastic about stupid, creepy reptiles and invertebrates and sneaking glances at Percy only to hotly look away when their eyes finally met.

Given the fact that the Jeopardy duo ended up not deciding on exactly what sort of pet they wanted, Annabeth was tempted to chalk up the entire day as a waste.

* * *

"What's a good name for a turtle?" the voice on the other end called.

Annabeth carefully unstuck a smiley sticker and pressed it to the page she was marking. "Is that what you ended up getting? A turtle?"

"Uh-huh. Small guy but Liv thinks he's the cutest," Percy chuckled. "We can't decide on what to call it yet. Leo wants to call him McShizzle and Olivia's all for it-" Annabeth snorted in mirth- "but I vetoed the idea. So yeah."

Annabeth hummed thoughtfully and forced herself to not think about the Pet Store Fiasco. "How about Phorcys?"

"Porky? He's a turtle not a pig."

" _Phorcys_ ," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "He's a Greek god of the sea."

"Ugh. I was thinking something along the lines of Speedy or Velocity because, you know, he's a turtle? And he's slow?"

"Never explain the joke, Percy."

Annabeth wasn't really surprised when three days later Percy sent her picture of a tank with a turtle in it. A proud caption read: 'Meet Porky'

* * *

Annabeth could tell that Piper had had enough of her dilemma when she threw her highlighter at her and groaned out, "Why don't you just ask him out already?"

"I'm not asking him out," she answered resolutely. "I mean, I want to but-"

"If you want to, then why not?" Piper shook her head then went back to tracing her lines with her index finger.

"Because," Annabeth tried to explain, frustrated, "dating Percy wouldn't just be dating Percy. He has a daughter. Obviously she's the biggest part of his life. Going into a relationship with him involves going into a relationship with her. And that just complicates everything."

"So?" Piper was only half paying attention. The other half of her mind was preoccupied with her script and notes. "You're a kindergarten teacher Annabeth. If anyone should know how to deal with kids, it should be you."

"It's not a matter of dealing with Olivia, Piper! There's a difference between being a child's teacher and being her…" Annabeth trailed off and bit her lip. What did she want to say? What should she say? What noun could she possibly put there? If she dated Percy, she'd be his girlfriend but what would she be to Olivia?

"Her dad's…girlfriend," Annabeth finished awkwardly, unsatisfied with those words.

Piper finally looked up from her page and an understanding concern filled her eyes. "Oh," she said.

"Yeah."

"Well," Piper tentatively spoke her next words. "You ever think that you overthink things too much Annabeth?"

"This warrants overthinking," Annabeth snapped. Piper, for her part, remained cool.

"Maybe not," she suggested softly. "All you really have to do is ask him out. Then see where it goes from there. If you think it's something you're not ready for, then you can just break it off."

But what would be the point of starting something if you couldn't be sure that it would last? That'd just be a waste of time and energy. Annabeth didn't voice that opinion to Piper though. All her best friend would say was that emotions didn't work like that. Annabeth Chase didn't give her heart away easily and when she did, she wanted to make sure that it would be with someone she could work out a future with. Casual dating? Not her thing.

The troubling thing was, even though Percy was already a father, she could see herself with him. She could see them lounging around cafes, playfully arguing or lazing around in an apartment or baking together (Annabeth didn't bake but Percy did and according to Jason, his food was the stuff of legends). Just being together. She could see them being together.

And where did Olivia fit into this picture? Well…Annabeth could see her too, loudly remarking on things in her brash manner and giggling and insisting on playing her games.

Annabeth twisted her hands in her lap. Damn she had it bad. She didn't want to throw around words like mother or (even worse) stepmother. They were too heavy and full of responsibility. When that assistant had used that word that other day? It had chilled her to the bone.

But maybe…maybe…it was worth a try? It wasn't often that someone made her feel this way. That ought to count for something.

Annabeth sighed. "If," she carefully started. "If I do ask him out" -Piper's eyes lit up at that- "what would be a good first date?"

"That's easy!" Piper crowed triumphantly. "You can go to a premiere of my show!"

"You have a spare ticket?" Annabeth blinked.

"Lacy's not coming," she shook her head. "Some work related emergency came up. So we're good to go!"

"And," Piper added when Annabeth didn't immediately respond, "if you're a big enough coward you can pretend that it's a group thing and that it's totally not a date at all."

"I'm not going do that!" Annabeth snapped. She reached for her phone and swiped the screen, biting her bottom lip. Then she threw her phone back onto her bed, ignoring Piper's reproachful stare.

"Tomorrow," she declared, trying to quell her queasiness. "I'll call him tomorrow."

* * *

 **A/N:** I have a weakness for pastries and meet cutes. I regret nothing. Also Staff of Serapis has convinced me that Annabeth is totally the kind of girl who discreetly checks guys out.


End file.
